This invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a molded insulator having one or more cavities, each cavity being shaped to receive a pin contact receptacle having at least two equally spaced retaining fingers that are releasable from the rear end.
Stamped and cold formed pin contact receptacles have been used in numerous configurations in the electrical connector industry. Many have positive retaining means, such as a flexible portion of the insulator, or a flexible portion of the contact inserted into an insulator cavity, such as barbs, hooks, and fingers. The contact receptacle is usually inserted into a cavity of an insulator from the rear with an electrical lead already crimped and/or soldered to the pin contact receptacle. The contact pin is then inserted into the receptacle from the front of the insulator.
Because of the electrical lead preconnected to the pin contact receptacle, the insulator is generally formed to receive the receptacle from the rear. Retaining fingers may be provided on the receptacle that expand radially to engage a shoulder in the insulator cavity. Where the receptacle protrudes through the front of the insulator sufficiently for the fingers to also be exposed, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,337, it is not a problem to compress the fingers in order to release the receptacle when it is necessary to remove it. Other arrangements which do not have the retention fingers protruding from the front are so configured that they may be released from the front, for example as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,961.
In many applications, it is preferable that the pin contact receptacle be releasable from the rear. That is a problem with some connectors, such as the connector shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,697,934 in which compressible pin contact arms are formed with hooked ends to also serve as retaining fingers that so engage an annular flange that the receptacle cannot be pushed back out of the insulator by the contact pin, or pulled out from the rear by the connected electrical lead. The problem is that such an arrangement is not releasable from the rear, only the front, and before a tubular tool can be used, such as the extraction tool shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,093, to force the hooked arms inwardly toward the axis of the receptacle, it is necessary to push the receptacle forward sufficiently to disengage the hooked ends of the fingers from the annular flange in the insulator cavity.
Note that a contact pin retained in an insulator is illustrated in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,093 on the tubular tool, but it could just as well have been a pin contact receptacle. In either case, the contact member is of a type which employs a separate retaining clip trapped within the insulator assembly. It would be desirable to provide a contact receptacle that has an integral retaining means formed as a unitary part of the receptacle and releasable from the rear. This is important for a "closed entry" insulator, which is an insulator having a shaped cavity to receive the receptacle from the rear, and an orifice at the front of the cavity that is just sufficient to receive a contact pin.